Reid About It

ABC's "Life On Mars" officially bit the dust tonight, wrapping up with a seventeen-episode run. The show never recovered from a two-month hiatus, and even a fan petition to save the show didn't help.

I really enjoyed this show, but as the weeks went on, it was clear I was one of the few still watching. It had a great cast, a good hook, and exciting weekly stories while the big mystery was being solved. I don't know if the general viewership didn't like the time travel twist, or just gave up on it when the show vanished for two months.

At least ABC cancelled it with enough notice they could wrap up the show. The fear of leaving a show with metaphysical questions unanswered is what usually scares me away from any show that tries to be "deep." I'm still recovering from the abrupt end ABC put to "Day Break" a few years ago. That's also the reason HBO's "John From Cincinnati" sat on my DVR for weeks until I heard it wasn't going to be renewed. You hate to waste an investment of time.

These kind of shows don't really build an audience. When you're asking the audience to be smart, either they go along with you or they don't. Your ratings don't significantly rise. Lost is the prime example here. It's one of the biggest shows on major TV of the last decade, and the ratings for it aren't going up (and probably won't until the last few episodes).

As a strange coincidence, the original British version of this show only ran sixteen episodes and was considered a big hit. It even spawned a sequel. In America, seventeen episodes makes it a failure.

According to Wikipedia (not always a reliable source), the DVD is planned for release September 29, 2009, and it will contain the full run of the show. I highly recommend it.